By two o'clock on a Sunday morning the custody suite at the Bridewell, beside the Justice Centre on Carrington Street, is filling with the weekend's arrests from Hockley, the Lace Market and the square: public order, assault, drink and drug driving, possession. Anyone held there, or invited to a voluntary interview anywhere in the Nottinghamshire Police area, is entitled to free legal advice at the police station whatever their income, and the criminal defence solicitors of Nottingham run a rota to provide it through the night.
What happens next depends on the charge. Most cases stay at Nottingham Magistrates' Court in the Justice Centre, or at Mansfield for the north of the county; the serious ones, including the knife-crime cases that have troubled the city in recent years, go to Nottingham Crown Court on Canal Street, where the backlog means a trial date can be a long way off. Students from the two universities bring their own pattern: first offences involving drugs, false identity documents or a night that went wrong, where a caution or a conviction can end a career before it starts and a solicitor's early intervention matters as much as the eventual outcome. Match days at the City Ground and Meadow Lane, fraud investigations linked to the city's finance employers and the full range of motoring offences on the ring road and the A52 complete the list.
Legal aid is means-tested in the magistrates' court and may involve contributions in the Crown Court, but it still covers most defendants, and the duty solicitor scheme covers everyone at the police station. Private clients should ask for a fee for each stage, and motoring work is often fixed-price.
Nottingham's criminal defence firms are listed below, verified firms first and then by distance. See what criminal law involves, the general criminal law solicitors guide, whether you can get legal help for free and, on the Leicestershire side, criminal law solicitors in Leicester.
